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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23405566">Taking That Step</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/justdk/pseuds/justdk'>justdk</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>All For The Game - Nora Sakavic</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Gen, Idk is this fluff?, M/M, POV David Wymack, Recovery, Surgery, Trans Neil Josten, top surgery</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-03-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 07:07:08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,127</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23405566</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/justdk/pseuds/justdk</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Neil gets top surgery and goes to Wymack's house to recover</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Abby Winfield/David Wymack, Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>224</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Taking That Step</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>based on my own experiences getting top surgery! more notes at the end</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p></p><div class="">
  <p>“Neil will be staying with me during his recovery,” Wymack says, “and that’s final.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“We can take care of him in Columbia,” Andrew argues. “All of his stuff is already there, anyways.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Wymack stares at him. “Yeah, no. I want Neil back in tip top form at the start of training and I don’t trust you, and especially not Kevin, to know what’s healthy for Neil while he’s recovering from surgery.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Andrew looks sullen and Kevin looks offended. Aaron and Nicky haven’t been included in the discussion but they don’t raise any objections.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Andrew, you’re welcome to stay at my house, too,” Wymack says. It would be impossible to separate the two and, knowing Neil, he wouldn’t rest if he couldn’t see Andrew on a daily basis.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Neil sighs and leans against Andrew. “I don’t know why you all are fussing,” he says, “I’ll be fine.” That earns him a roomful of glares. He laughs and shrugs. “Okay, I guess I earned that,” he admits.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Wymack exhales loudly and leaves the boys to pack. He’s got a house to prep.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>-----</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>The day of the surgery arrives and Wymack has never been so stressed, though he manages to keep it internalized. They wake up early and drive to Columbia, him and Neil and Andrew and Abby. Kevin and Nicky also wanted to be there but the waiting room really didn’t have seats for all of them and three people was already pushing it. Neil and Andrew sit in the backseat of Wymack’s car, holding hands and sharing earbuds while they listen to a playlist or podcast. Wymack’s shoulders are tense with anxiety and Abby reaches over to rub them. She gives him an encouraging smile. He’s so glad she’s here.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>The three of them wait for Neil and it’s nerve wracking. Andrew is glued to his phone but he frequently looks up, like he’ll suddenly see Neil walking towards them. It takes hours and hours. Abby brings them sandwiches and drinks from Subway. Wymack and Andrew rotate smoke breaks. Abby radiates calm and placidly pages through a cozy English murder mystery like this is any other day.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>When Neil is finally released Abby and Andrew stay with him while Wymack brings the car around. His first sight of Neil is the small striker sitting in a wheelchair looking half-asleep. He’s wearing his soft grey sweatpants and Kevin’s bulky zip-up Palmetto hoodie. Andrew stands close to him, holding Neil’s bag. As soon as Wymack puts the car in park Abby hurries forward and opens the door to the backseat. Neil should really be up front but he wanted to sit by Andrew so they put him in the back.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“How are you feeling?” Wymack asks as soon as Neil is settled. He has a specially made pillow over his chest to keep the seatbelt from rubbing on him.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Neil shrugs and then hisses. “I’m fine.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Oh my God,” Wymack mutters.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“They asked my level on the pain scale,” Neil laughs. “I told them this didn’t rate and they just stared at me.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Andrew gives Neil a look. Neil makes a silly face back and then closes his eyes.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“I feel so sleepy…”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Before he finishes his thought he’s asleep, head tipped back, mouth open. Andrew takes a picture with his phone and Abby laughs quietly.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Pain meds,” Wymack mutters as he pulls away from the hospital.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Apparently he told the surgeon he was just adding more scars to the collection,” Abby says, her expression sad.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Wymack pats her knee. “He’ll be fine. He’s been wanting this surgery for years and now he’s finally done it.” He looks in the rearview mirror at Neil’s sleeping face and grins. “I’m really fucking proud of him.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>-----</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>The next day Wymack sleeps in and heads to the kitchen, pausing when he hears soft grunts and scrambling noises coming from the kitchen. It’s 6am so he knows it’s nothing scandalous and is most likely… he rounds the corner and finds Neil on his tip-toes, arm reaching over his head to get at the coffee.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Neil!” Wymack barks.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Neil jumps like a startled cat, whirling around with a spoon held out like a weapon. He settles down once he sees Wymack, his expression sheepish.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“I just wanted some coffee,” Neil mutters, pulling at the bottom of his sweatshirt.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Wymack sighs and brushes past him and pulls down the coffee and filters. “I’ll leave these on the counter for you,” Wymack says. “Is there anything else you need moved to your level? You know you’re not supposed to be reaching like that and I don’t want Andrew climbing all over my counters.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Neil looks pained, not physically, but like his pride can’t take it. The boy doesn’t like asking for help at the best of times.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Well,” Neil admits, “maybe move those cereal bowls?”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>-----</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Oh my God, Neil.” It’s only Day Two but Wymack already feels like he’s lived a week.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Neil straightens up and shuffles his running shoes against the porch.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“What?”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Don’t you ‘what’ me,” Wymack growls. “You were about to go for a run, weren’t you?”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Neil sighs. “I’m fine, Coach, better than fine. I feel so light and good and I want to go for a run.” He plucks at his orange running shorts that are so bright drivers can see him from blocks away.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Well, you can’t,” Wymack says firmly. “Your surgeon said you can’t start any physical activity until two more weeks and that’s <em>light </em>physical activity. Not running marathons.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Neil groans dramatically and stomps back into the house. Every day he’s acting more like the teenager he still is. Wymack smiles and closes the front door.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Wymack tasks Andrew with keeping Neil from running and he’s found Andrew, more than a few times, sitting on Neil’s legs to keep the striker in place. Neil doesn’t seem to mind.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>-----</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>The guest bed – Wymack bought a guest bed just for Neil – has an impressive pillow fort going on. Andrew has made it his job to barricade Neil every night to make sure he doesn’t turn onto his side by accident. Neil is wearing a cozy looking fox pajama suit that conveniently zips up in the front. He submits to Andrew draping a lightweight blanket over him and then takes a drink of water from a cup with a bendy straw. Wymack’s never seen a doting Andrew and it’s kind of blowing his mind.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Are you sure you’re not in pain?” Andrew asks.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“I’m sure!” Neil says, a little loudly. “I’ve been shot, burned, stabbed,” he ticks off each major injury on a finger, “so this is <em>nothing</em>. I’m literally so comfortable right now.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“You also played with major injuries and a concussion when you decided to be an idiot and run off to Evermore,” Wymack chimes in. Neil and Andrew look up at him and they’re so small and ridiculous in their matching fox pajamas that Wymack has to bite back a laugh.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Exactly!” Neil says. “Surgery is not a big deal I don’t know why you guys are worried.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Andrew sighs and tucks the blanket around Neil’s shoulders.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>-----</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Making sure that Neil takes his pills on time and with food is another challenge. Neil treats medication like a suggestion, not a necessity.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“But I just took those this morning,” Neil complains when Andrew passes him another capsule and a pack of Oreos.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Yeah, you did,” Andrew answers, “but you have to take this medication three times a day. Morning, afternoon, night. Conveniently syncs with meal times.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“I have never eaten so much in my life.” Neil eyes the Oreos like they’re an enemy.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Uh-huh.” Andrew rips back the plastic, shoves an Oreo in his mouth, and then feeds one to Neil. Next comes a glass of milk, again with a bendy straw, followed by a pill. Neil submits to the medication, taking it with slightly better grace since Andrew is basically hand feeding him.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Wymack shakes his head and snags two cookies before heading back to his office. Clearly he’ll need to stock up on more snacks during his next grocery run.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>-----</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>The first shower is something Wymack is not getting anywhere near. He trusts Andrew to not let Neil fuck it up.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Neil and Andrew emerge nearly a half hour later and they’re both smiling. Wymack rolls his eyes and pretends not to notice the way their fingers hook together and their shoulders brush as they move over to get comfortable on the couch. He definitely doesn’t notice that Andrew’s hair is also freshly washed and that there’s a hickey blooming on Andrew’s neck. That’s way above his pay grade.*</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>-----</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Perhaps the biggest struggle of the Neil Josten Top Surgery Recovery is keeping Neil from being bored. Wymack gives Neil all the Exy videos he has and Neil watches them religiously. When it gets to be too much Andrew drifts off to the back porch to smoke and read or play games on his phone.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Wymack has his limits as well so he gets the boys hooked on his favorite crime show. Neil and Andrew obnoxiously point out mistakes and frequently get in arguments about what the characters should have done. When they finally watch all the seasons of Prison Break they move on to Burn Notice. Andrew draws the line when Neil asks Wymack about NCIS, claiming that they already have one grumpy old man in the house. Wymack gives him his best Gibbs glare.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Abby brings over a box filled with things to help ease Neil’s boredom: 1000 piece puzzles, books of Sudoku and crossword searches, and a large stack of library books of various genres for Neil and Andrew to sample. She also comes by several nights a week to help cook dinner and check up on Neil’s healing. Wymack would lose his goddamn mind without her and he’s not shy about telling her either.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>When Kevin visits he brings more Exy games to watch as well as history documentaries. Neil falls asleep within thirty minutes every time Kevin puts on a documentary and later blames it on his meds.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>It <em>is</em> true that the meds make Neil pass out and he doesn’t like it. Wymack catches him making nighttime coffee just because Neil wants to stay up with Andrew. It’s probably the most romantic thing he’s witnessed, Neil clutching his mug with his legs draped over Andrew’s thighs, the two of them talking quietly as it gets later and later.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>-----</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Wymack isn’t in the room when Neil gets his bandages taken off. He’s waiting for Andrew and Neil and he hangs back as Neil makes his next appointment but he does offer up his credit card to pay for Neil’s scar gel.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Don’t argue,” Wymack tells him gruffly. “Consider it a team expense.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Neil may have paid for the surgery out of pocket, with most of it being covered by his criminal uncle, but Wymack helps where he can.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>The ride back is quiet and Wymack catches Neil reaching up to touch his chest from time to time, a small smile on his lips. When they make it back to his house Neil and Andrew go out to the back porch and talk even though it’s hot as hell outside. When they come back in Neil’s eyes are red rimmed and his lips look chapped but he’s smiling and Andrew is, too, in his own repressed way.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Wymack keeps his thoughts to himself and serves up barbecue sandwiches and potato salad with glasses of sweet tea. Abby joins them, bringing apple pie and vanilla ice cream for dessert.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Wymack never sees Neil’s scars but Abby does when she gives Neil a check up. Afterwards she joins Wymack on the front porch, her head on his shoulder, as they sip wine and watch the sun set.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“You know,” Abby says quietly, “Neil keeps his feelings close but today when he showed me his scars he couldn’t stop smiling.” She sighs happily. “He told me he never thought he would live long enough to have this surgery and that he already feels so much better.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Damn,” Wymack murmurs. “That’s amazing.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Yeah.” Abby smiles up at him. “Our foxes, huh?”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>He smiles back. “Our foxes.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>*Author’s note: showering is not that complicated though I probably did more stretching than is recommended because I washed my own hair (it’s buzzed so really it’s very easy to wash). The main thing is to keep bandages dry so my surgeon gave me a short cape – like what you wear at the barber’s – to drape over my shoulders and keep my chest dry. Assuming Neil has a similar set up I think Andrew could easily give his hair – and body – a wash (and perhaps do other things) without getting Neil’s bandages wet.</p>
</div>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Just a few notes: I’m nonbinary and I had my top surgery last week on 3/24/20! I had a double incision surgery and chose not to have nipples. For this fic I left it open ended as to whether or not Neil would choose to have nipples though it is a longer and more complex healing process with nipples. My recovery has been virtually painless and I’ve felt great and been able to do many things (I really should have been resting but I’m not that person, turns out). I also left it open ended as to whether or not Neil is taking hormones; I hc that he would but I’ll leave that up to you, the reader! Again, I’m writing from my experience while also referencing my time helping my friend with his top surgery last year (he did do nipple grafts). Feel free to ask me questions and enjoy!</p><p>You can find me on tumblr @dkafterdark</p></blockquote></div></div>
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